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Turbulent priest
THE seemingly endless battle to uphold the rule of law and protect victims of crime, already discussed above, has suffered another reverse through the fatuous intervention of a York priest.
The unsolicited advice from Father Tim Jones to all those suffering money worries this Christmas is to go out shoplifting – but only from large stores – as it is better for poor people to steal from the rich than to turn to "prostitution, mugging or burglary".
There are three questionable assumptions here. The first is that all large national stores can be categorised as wealthy. This might be news to those employees of Woolworths, for example, who found themselves jobless a year ago following the chain's collapse, and to those
of Borders UK which closes today.
The second is that those whom Father Jones categorises as poor have no options other than stealing or prostitution, a calumny against the hundreds of thousands of law-abiding people struggling to make ends meet over the festive season and who would never dream of resorting to crime as a solution to their problems.
And the third is that the criminal minority who are only too ready to go out shoplifting need any encouragement from Father Jones or that they will pay any heed to his pitiful plea for them to avoid small family businesses.
If the man in charge of the parishes of St Lawrence and St Hilda cannot deliver a Christmas sermon without making such irresponsible comments, then perhaps next year he might be better advised to try taking a vow of silence.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Friday 25 May 2012
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